FCC rules Verizon can't charge for Wi-Fi tethering
30 replies, posted
[url]http://www.zdnet.com/let-my-wi-fi-go-fcc-rules-verizon-cant-charge-for-wi-fi-tethering-7000001916/[/url]
[quote=ZDNet]In a US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruling, Verizon was ordered to stop charging users an additional fee for using their 4G smartphones and tablets as Wi-Fi hotspots, aka tethering.
P. Michele Ellison, FCC, Enforcement Bureau Chief, said in a statement, “This case was the first of its kind in enforcing the pro-consumer open access obligations of the C Block [the spectrum band reserved for 4G] rules. It underscores the agency’s commitment to guarantee consumers the benefits of an open wireless broadband platform by providing greater consumer choice and fostering innovation."
As FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in the same document, "Today’s action demonstrates that compliance with FCC obligations is not optional. The open device and application obligations were core conditions when Verizon purchased the C-block spectrum. The massive innovation and investment fueled by the Internet have been driven by consumer choice in both devices and applications. The steps taken today will not only protect consumer choice, but defend certainty for innovators to continue to deliver new services and apps without fear of being blocked."
In short, “Verizon Wireless offers customers its 4G LTE service on C Block spectrum. Verizon Wireless bid at auction to acquire that spectrum, understanding that it was accompanied by open device and application obligations. Specifically, licensees offering service on C Block spectrum 'shall not deny, limit, or restrict the ability of their customers to use the devices and applications of their choice on the licensee’s C Block network, subject to narrow exceptions.'”
In addition, “Under the terms of today’s settlement, Verizon Wireless will make a voluntary payment to the Treasury in the amount of $1.25 million, and has committed to notifying the application store operator that it no longer objects to the availability of the tethering applications to C-Block network customers” and that Verizon “revised its service offerings such that consumers on usage-based
pricing plans may tether, using any application, without paying an additional fee.”
The bottom line is that you will once more be able to freely share your Verizon 4G broadband connection over Wi-Fi with your other devices and your friends, co-workers, and family's devices. Verizon started closing the doors to tethering in the spring of 2011. Verizon wasn't the only carrier to tax users for using their bandwidth as they saw fit. AT&T had started charging tethering users earlier in 2011.
In the case of Verizon, the company started charging users a $20 per month tethering charge even if they had an “unlimited” plan. Those days are done. You will now be able to freely share your bandwidth as you see fit.
I never understood Verizon's restrictive tethering policy. The carriers, starting with Verizon, were getting rid of unlimited data plans as fast as possible anyway. "Unlimited data is not something we think is sustainable in the long term," Tami Erwin, chief marketing officer for Verizon, said in a CNET interview. Thus, we were always going to end up paying out the nose for any data usage over 2GBs a month anyway. If you wanted to use that bandwidth to say your Verizon smartphone and your Wi-Fi only Apple iPad tablet and Lenovo ThinkPad laptop why should Verizon object? The $20 fee was always about trying to squeeze the customer for the maximum amount of income with the minimum amount of service.
Business being busines you will still almost certainly end up paying more for your 4G broadband as Verizon raises data plan prices in the future., For now, though you can choose to use your data plan the way you want to use it without any additional fees. And, in the short run, you'll be saving $20 a month.[/quote]
Damn, time to get a 4g phone
I have an Unlimited plan, this will be so great if they are forced to allow it.
This is 4g only? fuck.
Nice to see a federal agency using their brains for once
What about AT&T?
[QUOTE=Fatfatfatty;37024092]Nice to see a federal agency using their brains for once[/QUOTE]
We're still several thousand in the negatives with the FCC, but hey, some change for once is good!
Hopefully they'll be looking over at AT&T next.
or you could just put cyanogen mod (if you can post on facepunch you have the technical knowledge to put this on your phone) on your phone and get free tethering
[QUOTE=LordCrypto;37024189]Hopefully they'll be looking over at AT&T next.[/QUOTE]
The FCC can’t apply the same rules to AT&T or other networks. Verizon is the only operator who purchased the C Block spectrum that comes with the open network regulations.
[QUOTE=meppers;37024217]or you could just put cyanogen mod (if you can post on facepunch you have the technical knowledge to put this on your phone) on your phone and get free tethering[/QUOTE]
Or, we'd rather do it the legal way.
[QUOTE=meppers;37024217]or you could just put cyanogen mod (if you can post on facepunch you have the technical knowledge to put this on your phone) on your phone and get free tethering[/QUOTE]
yes hi tell me how to put cm9 on my apple iphone and then i can tether
I have a 4g phone and unlimited data with verizon, so this will be good for my laptop and I.
snip
I want 4G so bad
[QUOTE=meppers;37024217]or you could just put cyanogen mod (if you can post on facepunch you have the technical knowledge to put this on your phone) on your phone and get free tethering[/QUOTE]
Whilst that's the better thing to do in terms of user experience, it should still be available for free by default, as a matter of principle. You pay for the data, they shouldn't be able to dictate how you use it.
[QUOTE=wickedplayer494;37024279]Or, we'd rather do it the legal way.[/QUOTE]
Err, custom roms are in no way illegal, unless the US is even more corporate based than I though.
[QUOTE=Terminutter;37024392]Err, custom roms are in no way illegal, unless the US is even more corporate based than I though.[/QUOTE]
I'm talking about the fact that you'd be circumventing the system illegally by tethering without having to pay anything with a mod, which could get you in deep shit if your carrier of choice wants you to pay for tethering. They could suspend your service after all.
Oh god yes I've got an unlimited data plan and they contractually have to let me keep it when I upgrade
[QUOTE=meppers;37024217]or you could just put cyanogen mod (if you can post on facepunch you have the technical knowledge to put this on your phone) on your phone and get free tethering[/QUOTE]
no dont do this
4g only? Fuck, I have a 4g phone but the rest of my family don't.
Still, fuck Verizon. Data is data, whether it's tethering or Facetime or Netflix. They don't get to single out and choose specific data-using programs to charge more for, it's all the same bits and bytes on the same radio frequency.
[QUOTE=Cheesemonkey;37024538]no dont do this[/QUOTE]
95% of android device manufacturers and cell carriers bloat and shit on android phones with bloatware and crapware
if you don't have a nexus device and you don't put CM or any other rom you like on it you should have got an iphone(or nexus phone(or windows phone))
yes its a pain in the ass but it pays off
Suddenly glad my brother has a galaxy IIIs and I have a WiFI iPad
I wish I could post the Bruce Lee laughing gif.
It is the perfect representation of how I feel about this.
There is already a free, no-root-needed wifi tethering app called foxfi.
[QUOTE=Mr. Smartass;37024807]There is already a free, no-root-needed wifi tethering app called foxfi.[/QUOTE]
Of course there's ways around it, for Android and iOS devices, but if Verizon catches you they will bitchslap you with fees. It's all part of that giant contract that no one bothers to read.
[QUOTE=tinhead50;37024285]I have a 4g phone and unlimited data with verizon, so this will be good for my laptop and I.[/QUOTE] Really? Wow, I only get 200mb of phone data with unlimited social networking and free text. If I tether my phone I chew a big amount of data thanks to the background shit on my school laptop which runs me over my usage. I want unlimited data
I still think it is so stupid. Data is data. Just because I'm using my data for different reasons doesn't mean it is any less data. My 3gb monthly AT&T doesn't let me tether. Why the fuck not? I'm not going to use more than 3gb anyway. Why don't they let me use my 3gb as a hotspot instead of using it for downloading shitty apps?
[QUOTE=fruxodaily;37024865]Really? Wow, I only get 200mb of phone data with unlimited social networking and free text. If I tether my phone I chew a big amount of data thanks to the background shit on my school laptop which runs me over my usage. I want unlimited data[/QUOTE]He's probably like many of us who were grandfathered in with our old unlimited plans.
Just upgraded one of our lines to the Samsung Galaxy S3, unfortunately that means that one of our lines is now 2GB instead of unlimited (no price change and the person never used more than 1GB in a month)
Gonna switch the Galaxy over to my unlimited line.
Unlimited 4g Tethering for college, whoo
neat! so now I have 4GB of 4G data I can tether from my phone... I dont even use 1GB per month ahaha! Maybe this will be good for my laptop if I can't find wifi!
[QUOTE=Doctor Zedacon;37026420]He's probably like many of us who were grandfathered in with our old unlimited plans.[/QUOTE]AT&T can pry my grandfathered unlimited plan from my cold dead hands.
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